One L.A. marijuana measure smokes two others in early returns

After all the campaigning and debating by the candidates, voters cast their ballots for the next mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday. City residents also voted for other city officials and on ballot measures.

Laura J. Nelson and Kate Linthicum

A ballot measure that would reduce the number of pot shops in Los Angeles, but keep some open, took off during early voting returns Tuesday night.

With 14% of precincts reporting at 11 p.m., about 64% of voters supported Proposition D, which would keep about 130 dispensaries open.

It is one of three measures on Tuesday's ballot that would change regulations on medical marijuana in Los Angeles. The measure with the most votes will win, but only if it receives more than 50% of the vote. If none of the three receives majority approval, they all fail.

Proposition D would shrink the number of pot shops to about 130, allowing only those operating before a failed 2007 city moratorium on dispensaries to stay open. The measure was backed by a coalition of older shops as well as a labor union that has organized workers at many of them.

Measure F, which had 43% support in early returns, would place no limit on the number of pot shops but would require them to submit to city audits, test cannabis for toxins, submit to city audits and remain a certain distance from schools, parks and other dispensaries. It was pushed by a coalition of shops that opened after the 2007 moratorium.

A third measure, Initiative Ordinance E, had 38% support. That measure would permit only the older shops without raising taxes.